Another Cold Week in the Books

    This will be the winter we remember for a long time, I never understood why so many people leave the cold states to our north to move to Florida, but now I know why. A couple days of cold weather is tolerable, but when it’s constant it really is miserable. And to think this really isn’t that cold for northern standards, but for a Florida boy it’s been one miserable cold winter that can’t end soon enough.

    I was on the water a lot this past week and each day was colder than I anticipated. Almost every angler I spoke to both professional guide or recreational angler is finding it extremely difficult to pattern fish due to the unprecedented cold this winter keeps bringing, not to mention getting them to eat. Every day we fished with the mindset that we would be happy with catching fish and take quantity over quality and if we found a fishy area we stayed on it rather than looking for something better. Several days we had smaller children on board so we really needed to look for action while keeping them comfortable.

    We fished creeks in northern Buzzard Bay of Matlacha Pass, structure in northern Pine Island Sound and oyster bars in southern Matlacha Pass and caught fish in all these places. Around the oyster bars we actually had good redfish action on the coldest mornings. They were on the small side going from fifteen to eighteen inches, but it was sure nice to see a steady bend in the rods. We also found sheepsheads with the largest weighing four pounds and were surprised with a nice pompano around the oyster bars. We were fishing shrimp on bottom. We fished structure in Pine Sound looking for larger sheepsheads where we did not catch as many large fish as anticipated. There was lots of little sheepies a few small grouper and a couple larger sheepsheads up to three pounds boated. Again shrimp on bottom was the bait of choice. Everywhere we fished the bait had to be on bottom and moving very slow or not at all to get a bite.

    What we caught this past week was by no means grounds for bragging, but with the conditions we were happy to just catch fish and avoid running more than necessary in the cold air. Things are looking up with a little stretch of warmer weather with highs in the seventies. Give it a few days and our fishing should improve with larger trout and redfish on the move and hopefully hungry.

“Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell

HERE WE GO AGAIN

I am beginning to wonder if we will complete a week of fishing in southwest Florida without weather becoming an issue. This past week was pretty brutal on the water with lots of wind, rain and more cold. Again we are in for another lengthy stretch of cold weather, not the killer type freeze we experienced last month but enough to set our fishing back once again.

                                                    


We fished a couple days this week where the winds felt Gail force strength and it was tough. I suggested canceling or rescheduling but both days were visitors from the north with a small window of time and they really wanted to get on the water. One good thing about Matlacha Pass and Pine Island Sound is there are plenty of places to fish out of the wind. We could not get any type of bite going in the open water areas and finally settled into fishing creeks at the northeast section of Matlacha Pass. I generally like to fish using the wind to my advantage on the windward side of Islands but it was just too strong (and cold). The fish weren’t bragging size by no means but we did have steady action and put enough fish in the cooler for a fish dinner each day. The sheepsheads bite was steady but were averaging only about ten inches, we caught several redfish but again running small with a sixteen inch average. We did work our way to some decent trout up to eighteen inches. We were fishing both live and cut shrimp on bottom, free lined shrimp and soft plastics. Even though the weather was cold we still caught most of the larger trout on a white four inch shad tail soft plastic on a quarter ounce jig head.



When you get those days when the wind is howling and the air is crisp look for creeks, canals or protected areas and spend some time there. Chances are the bite won’t be red hot, but if you are getting any action at all stick with it, you know the fish are there. Even if you are catching smaller fish than you are accustomed to, you are still catching and you never know when the larger fish will turn on. Plus it’s far more enjoyable than beating yourself up on those windy days running from spot to spot.



We are in another pattern of sustained cooler than average weather and yes its getting frustrating, I am ready for summer! But, when you look at the weather to our north we really can’t complain, if anything it should make us realize just how spoiled were are in southwest Florida.



“Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell

FISHING GOOD WHEN WEATHER ALLOWS

We just can’t seem to get a week in the books without weather becoming an issue. The record breaking cold is well behind us, however summer like rain over multiple days and wind crippled anglers much of the week. Over the few days of favorable weather there were reports of trout and sheepsheads and a few hungry redfish.

Trout reports were widespread with reports coming from the eastern shore of Charlotte Harbor in northern Matlacha Pass and throughout Pine Island Sound. All areas held one common factor; the best fishing came to those that stayed on the move, either drifting or via trolling motor. Once a fish was hooked up, dropping anchor and working the area usually had good results, then when the bite stopped continued to move. In Matlacha Pass from Bear Island to Smokehouse Bay held fish, on either side of the Burnt Store Bar between Burnt Store Marina and Two Pine’s in the Harbor and in the Sound from Big Jim Creek to Useppa Island up north and the flats outside Tarpon Bay and north of the power lines on the Sanibel side in the southern Sound.

The fish are averaging about fourteen to sixteen inches in length with about half making the fifteen inch legal size. Bait choices included shrimp under a popping cork, four inch soft plastics in a shrimp pattern attached to an eighth-ounce jig head and fished below a popping or Cajun thunder cork and white or chartreuse shad tails on a quarter-ounce jig head with a moderate jigging retrieve. Fishing grassy bottom with patches of sand in four to six feet gave the best results for action with both trout and lot’s of ladyfish. Potholes and gradual drops along the various long sand bars also held good numbers of fish, with trout in these areas averaging a little larger.

Sheepshead fishing was decent, but not what it should be. We are in the height of our inshore sheepsheads fishing and it should get much better anytime. Anglers mainly focused around docks and structure in the Sound and around the Passes. Docks inside Blind, Redfish and Captiva Passes held fish with some larger sheepies up to five pounds caught. For rigging a small live shrimp with the tail cut off and a half ounce egg sinker rigged to allow the line to freely slide when a fish picked up the bait was the best way to outwit the known bait stealers. Black drum up to twenty-five inches and a few good redfish were also caught under the docks. Shore bound anglers caught sheepsheads from the Sanibel and Bokeelia fishing Piers and the Matlacha draw bridge. They also hooked into a few black drum as well as trout and Pompano.

I have noticed fish in general getting much more active over the week and ladyfish invading our waters again. They can often become a nuisance but after the cold they disappeared and I kind of missed them. Also beginning to see bonnet head sharks cruising along the bars, they are averaging about three feet and a good sign the waters are warming. A couple weeks ago to catch a trout the bait needed to move really slow, this week we found soft plastics getting hammered as soon as they hit the water or with a moderately paced retrieve. All these are signs pointing to what could be good fishing in the upcoming weeks.